About Me

Raghudon aka Raghu lives in Mumbai, India after having travelled a lot around the world. He also has a lot of friends who are nice and leave comments and nice things for him on this blogpage (get the hint??)
I am back to bloggging after a long time. Lets see how useful this avatar of the blog turns out to be1

Tuesday, October 03, 2017

The point is u want a pistol and rifle... Ok
I want automatic weapons.. Why!!! What is ur right thay gets sullied by not having weapons. I think in the private space they may have more guns than the Indian army. All it needs is a deranged guy.
Isis will take responsibility even if trump has an upset tummy and farts 4 times in the day.
And we have not seen the end of this.

Raghudon predicts that sadly more of these deranged attacks will happen. And not all will be Islamic terrorists (btw a white guy will be never called a terrorist)
Being a psychiatrist at this time will make a person Rich.

BTW in India to cause these many death even a gun is not needed. And just a day later it's travel as usual and people have forgotten. Is it reseliance or short term memory loss???

Uncle Sam please pull the plug on guns. Else we will have John Rambo with their own causes in every major city.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

How does your business connect with its customers? How do you deliver your unique value to your target customers? How do you go from the initial connection with a potential customer to the fulfillment of your brand promise?

The answer to these vital questions define your go-to-market strategy.

Developing a comprehensive GTM strategy is an investment in time and resources, but it can help illuminate and ensure a viable path to market success.

What's Inside Your GTM Strategy?

The goal of a GTM strategy is to improve key business outcomes. This is mainly accomplished by aligning to the evolving needs of your customers.

To create an effective GTM strategy for your business, you want to create a detailed plan with the following six ingredients:

Markets: What markets do you want to pursue?

Customers: Who are you selling to? Who is your target customer?

Channels: Where do your target customers buy? Where will you promote your products?

Product (or Offering): What product/service are you selling? And what unique value do you offer to each target customer group?

Price: How much will you charge for your products for each customer group?

Positioning: What is your unique value or primary differentiation? How will you connect to what matters to your target customers and position your brand?

If you can concisely and effectively answer these six questions, you'll be in the position to formulate a winning GTM strategy.

An Example from Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines is recognized as one of the most innovative and trendsetting companies in the cutthroat industry of commercial aviation.

Southwest was so innovative, in fact, that many larger airlines and airports tried to prevent the company from getting off the ground in the early 1970's.

Instead of using the traditional "hub and spoke" flight routing system employed by most major airlines, Southwest opted for a "Point to Point" system.

Most airlines have "hubs" in particular major cities where most flights connect through (think of a hub on a wheel with many spokes coming out of the center). Southwest's Point to Point system takes passengers from one to another without using any hubs.

Only about 20 percent Southwest's passengers are connecting passengers—the vast majority are local—making the point to point system more effective for their target customers.

This is just one example of how Southwest's go-to-market strategy help the airline stay on top and deliver what its markets want most.

Before You Begin

GTM strategies, like any corporate strategy, is a matter of asking the right questions (and in the right order).

As a business leader, it is helpful to play the role of "strategic coach" and run through the following questions with your executive team:

Where are you now? What is the current state of affairs in your business? Take inventory of your current business position and the current climate in your marketplace.

Where do you want to go? What is the desired end picture of this new initiative? Define your ultimate vision.

What has to happen to get you to your end picture? What strategic options are available to you? Determine the best solution paths to realizing your vision.

The main distinction between an overall corporate strategy and a GTM strategy is that the latter has a greater emphasis on connecting with your customers: sales, marketing, branding, distribution, customer touch points, and so on.

How Long Will Your GTM Strategy Take to Execute?

A comprehensive GTM strategy that includes a detailed analysis of your target markets, customer segments, budget requirements, offers, positioning can take several weeks (or longer) to formulate.

Successful implementation of a new GTM strategy can take 12 to 36 months.

It is important to keep in mind that a GTM strategy is a long-term approach to building profitability, decreasing customer acquisition cost, and enhancing the customer experience.

Remember you can't profitably pursue every market so you want to determine where you can most effectively differentiate your brand and attract the most profitable customers who resonate with your offering.

Force yourself to sacrifice and focus on what matters most.

Start by brainstorming a master list of all possible markets you could pursue. Then, determine how you will assess each market opportunity. You may use metrics like market size, growth trends, ability to compete, barriers to entry, the economics of each market.

Consider:

Which markets have the biggest and most urgent pain?

Where are there gaps in the market?

Which markets are most aligned with your corporate strategy?

Which markets best match your core competencies?

Which markets can you most easily reach?

Which markets have the largest market size and least competition?

Next, assess each market for accessibility, alignment, and overall opportunity. Do what you can to test or validate each market opportunity with key stakeholders.

Review feedback from current and prospective clients as well as employees on the front line. Review trend data from available sources. Try using customer surveys and external focus groups.

Finally, prioritize your market opportunities and refine them on an ongoing basis.

Ultimately, you're best opportunities will also attract your competitors, so defining your target markets is insufficient in itself.

You will still need to differentiate your offer and position your brand. But at least now you will have the confidence that you're fishing where your fish are.

Step 2: Define Your Target Customer

Management guru Peter Drucker reminds us, "The purpose of business is to create a customer."

What is the ideal experience you're trying to create for your target customers?

What are the emotions you want your Brand Lovers to experience when they interact with you?

Your goal is to understand who your customers are, how they behave, and what they experience. The better consumer insights you have, the better chances you have for executing an effective GTM strategy.

Step 3: Define Your Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is the process of positioning your brand in the mind of your customers. If management takes an intelligence, forward-looking approach, it can positively influence its brand's position in the eyes of its target customers.

Now define your product or the product's unique value proposition. Understanding your product's key features and benefits is the first step. Then you must understand exactly how your product connects with your customers: the context of their use, the solutions it solves, the benefits they derive.

The better insights you have about your customers, the more effective you can be at defining your offering. This means you need to get to know your customers, to obsess about your customers.

Talk to them, listen to them, and get to know them. This step will also help you create more effective marketing messages later on.

Step 5: Define Your Channels

You link your offering to your customers through channels. Channels might include a retail store, Internet, a customer service call center, face to face salesperson, a trade show, a seminar, or a direct partner.

Is there a way to create a competitive advantage with your pricing model?

Channel economics is an important to consider. For example, most airlines, like JetBlue, charges a $25 booking fee when you book a flight over the phone while charging no fees for online booking. There's little variable cost for web transactions, but call center representatives are expensive.

Your goal might be to develop a revenue model based on anticipated market penetration, average transaction size, number of transaction, and so on.

Consider:

Based on your market definitions (step 1), what are your primary goals for market share penetration?

What are your estimated margins over the next one-, two-, and three-year horizon, factoring in startup and ongoing expenses?

What are the human resources requirements for the first year of execution?

To help mitigate risk, it is advisable to identify the economic, competitive, and internal risks associated with executing this strategy. Outline the biggest risks that may affect your ability to reach your goals and develop strategies to address how to overcome them.

Step 7: Define Your Marketing Strategy

Now it's time to put all of the pieces of this massive puzzle together. You're going to want to develop a unique marketing strategy for each target market you've identified in step 1.

Your marketing mix will be determined by your strategy in each market. Starting with your brand positioning, your goal is to create competitive advantages for your product offering.

To develop your marketing tactics, consider:

How do you reach the economic buyers and influencers of your target markets?

What messages will motivate them to consideration and purchase?

Keep in mind that your marketing objectives and strategy might change throughout the product lifecycle so be ready to adapt.

Be sure to measure and track your key performance metrics on a weekly and monthly basis so you can make adjustments to your strategies, investments, and human resources.

Now It's Your Turn

As Sun Tzu said in The Art of War, "Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."

An effective GTM strategy is based on the art of delighting your customers and surprising your competitors. Consider how hard Apple used to work to keep the the plans of their new iPhone secret until "the right moment" to go to market with their new product.

Once you are in the process of rolling out your strategy you won't have time to plan as you'll be more reactive due to your deadline pressures. Thoughtfully and thoroughly walking through these vital steps gives your organization the greatest chance of success.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Iassc Newton did poorly in grade school and was considered "unpromising."

When Thomas Edison was a youngster, his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. He was counseled to go into a field

where he might succeed by virtue of his pleasant personality.

F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21, but his boss would not permit him to wait on customers because he "didn't have enough sense to close a sale."

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

Bob Cousy suffered the same fate, but he too is a Hall of Famer.

A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he "lacked imagination and had no original ideas."

Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade and had to repeat it because he did not complete the tests that were required for promotion.

Babe Ruth struck out 1,300 times, a major league record.

A person may make mistakes, but is not a failure until he or she starts blaming someone else. We must believe in ourselves, and somewhere along the road of life we will meet someone who sees greatness in us and let us know it.

forgive brevity..composed on handphone.. better to write fewer words but in time and that which makes sense :)

NANDAN does not accept liability for the integrity of this message or for any changes, which may occur in transmission due to network, machine or software failure or manufacture or operator error. Although this communication and any files transmitted with it are believed to be free of any virus or any other defect which might affect any computer or IT system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that they are virus free and no responsibility will be accepted by NANDAN for any loss or damage arising in any way from receipt or use thereof.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

In 1982, Jan Carlson had just been named the CEO of Scandinavian Airlines. His company was in trouble. They had just been ranked by a consumer poll as the worst airline in the world. Last in service, last in dependability, and last in profits as a percentage of sales. Yet one year later, in the same poll, they were ranked number one in all three categories. What happened?

Carlson had decided to focus on what he thought was the most critical issue...serving the customer. He wanted to keep it simple:Identify every contact between the customer and the employee, and treat that contact as..."a moment of truth."

He set out to let his people know the importance of that moment...the captain, the ticket agent, the baggage handler, the flight attendant.

"Every moment, every contact," he said, "must be as pleasant, and as memorable as possible."

He figured that he had approximately ten million customers each year, and on average each customer made contact with five of his people for approximately fifteen seconds apiece. Therefore, in his mind, these fifty million contacts, fifteen seconds at a time, would determine the fate of his company.

He set out to share his vision with his twenty thousand employees. He knew the key was to empower the front line. Let them make the decision and take action, because they were Scandinavian Airlines during those fifteen seconds. He now had twenty thousand people who were energized and ready to go because they were focused on one very important thing...making every moment count.

"A leader's job is to look into the future and see the organization,not as it is, but as it should be."

NANDAN does not accept liability for the integrity of this message or for any changes, which may occur in transmission due to network, machine or software failure or manufacture or operator error. Although this communication and any files transmitted with it are believed to be free of any virus or any other defect which might affect any computer or IT system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that they are virus free and no responsibility will be accepted by NANDAN for any loss or damage arising in any way from receipt or use thereof.

forgive brevity..composed on handphone.. better to write fewer words but in time and that which makes sense :)

NANDAN does not accept liability for the integrity of this message or for any changes, which may occur in transmission due to network, machine or software failure or manufacture or operator error. Although this communication and any files transmitted with it are believed to be free of any virus or any other defect which might affect any computer or IT system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that they are virus free and no responsibility will be accepted by NANDAN for any loss or damage arising in any way from receipt or use thereof.